In an article published on Thursday, LA Times Staff Writer David Colker claims that the leap to high-definition flicks is marginal.

"I've looked at Blu-ray and HD DVD on 42-inch and 50-inch screens, which are now popular sizes for home use," he said. "The upgrade in image quality from DVDs was subtle - nothing close to the kind of leap we saw when switching from VHS tape to DVDs in the late 1990s."

Bill Hunt, editor of DVD enthusiast website The Digital Bits, agrees.

"This is really for the early adopters at this point," he told the LA Times. "The average Joe is not going to jump in when it's $1,000 or even maybe $300."